The lives of Charlie Weasley and Arabelle Black
by MissAnnieT
Summary: When Arabelle black, daughter of Sirius, is left in the care of Molly and Arthur Weasley, sparks fly between her and Charlie. This story tells the ups and downs of their relationship as they grow up together.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

She didn't remember much about her family. Her biological family, that was. As far as she was concerned Molly and Arther were the nearest thing to parents she had.  
she was adopted into the family aged 9, after her father was sent to Azkaban prison. Her mother Arabelle, who was good friends with Molly, died shortly after Arabelle was born, Leaving her in the care of her father. She did not remember her mother, she only knew her from what she had seen in photos. Arabelle had her slim frame but other than that she resembled more of her father,something she would soon grow to resent. She had dark brown hair which was long and cascaded down her back into thick curls, deep red lips and a pale complexion which in her opinion clashed with her dull grey eyes, making them look glassy and hollow. despite this she was not unattractive and would soon grow into her looks. From her pure blood Herritage she had gained impeccably good bone structure, with a well-defined jaw and cheekbones that any woman would long for. However at aged 9, high cheekbones  
and darkly good looks are not the sort of things a young girl can appreciate.

Arabelle had often spent a lot of time with the Weasley's as a child, Molly offered to look after Arabelle while Sirius was at work or out doing jobs for the Order of the Pheonix. When he was sent to azkaban, much to the shock of everyone, Arabelle included, it seemed only natural to Molly that Arabelle would be left in Molly's care. Afterall she got on so well with her sons. She spent a lot of her time with Charlie who was the same age as Arabelle, and Bill her eldest. Six year old Percy spent most of his time reading but quietly appreciated the way Arabelle and Charlie together could distract the 3 year old twins Fred and George from tormenting Percy with every spare minute they could find. The twins adored Charlie and Arabelle and would toddle around after them wherever they could, leaving a trail of destruction in their path. Molly was too busy with baby Ron and looking after the house while Arther was at work,to spend as much time with her other children as she wished she could, but found the fact they all got on relatively well together reassuring.

Many chaoticly blissful years passed in the Weasley household Bill left for Hogwarts aged 11, and with his departure Charlie and Arabelle depended on each other more for company as well as to look after the younger Weasley's, and with the twins becoming more mischievous and destructive as they got older, this was becoming quite the challenge. They would wind up Percy, make Ron cry as sometimes fight with each other. They had figured out how to handle these incidents together by taking care of one twin between them. Charlie was able to calm down Fred, the more boisterous of the two, while Arabelle was naturally drawn to George, who was more calm and sensitive.

After what felt like years of waiting it was finally time for Arabelle and Charlie to leave for Hogwarts. The twins cried for hours the morning of September 1st, their crying then set Ron off and then Baby Ginny too. Mrs. Weasley was getting more and more flustered by the hour and by the time 11 o'clock came they found themselves grateful to be on the Hogwarts express speeding away from the commotion of the family on the platform.

Much to Arabelle's relief she was sorted into Griffindor house with Charlie. Although both her Mother and Father had been Griffindors, she could not forget the rest of her fathers' family; They had all been Slytherins and blood purists alike, and generally not a very nice bunch. Arabelle of course she had been disowned by them from the start, as her father had left the family many years ago.

Although Arabelle had been sorted into Griffindor, this did not seem to comfort any of the other students. Arabelle had kept her fathers last name, as Molly was careful to remind the others that Arabelle was not their sister but rather their friend, an act none of them, even Arthur truly understood. And the other students had not forgotten she was still the daughter of murderous Sirius Black, inheriting his darkly handsome features did not help her case, and for this, she found herself to be the centre of gossip for many weeks. Eyes bore into her as she walked with Charlie from class to class. People would avoid getting too close to her, as if they feared she would become crazed at any moment and renact the scene that put her father away two years ago.

Despite all this Charlie remained as loyal as ever. He went everywhere with her, sat next to her in classes, and stuck up for if anyone was to speak nastily of her, even if this resulted in him being hit by a few hexes from older wizards. Needless to say however, if it hadn't been for Charlie, Arabelle would have found herself thoroughly miserable at Hogwarts. They became inseparable as they became older. In their 3rd year Charlie had begged of Arabelle, much to her disdain, to take care of magical creatures as one of her subjects, which would result in them having all the same lessons together. However Arabelle soon found herself regretting agreeing to the subject, as she could not get on with Professor Grubly-Plank at all. She found her temper to be short and herattitude abrupt to anyone who, like Arabelle, was any less than wonderstruck with the creatures, to be personally insulting her and her subject. It wasnt that Arabelle didn't like the creatures it was more that she was just disinterested in the subject entirely. The fact that the professor had nothing short of adoration towards Charlie only made Arabelle dislike her more. He was considered a model student in the lesson.

While Charlie loved the idea of being outside all day Arabelle found it dull, and not to mention far too cold for such nonsense in the winter months; and while Charlie was always first to volunteer for tasks, she tried her best to hang back and be as little involved in it all as possible. No matter how much Charlie would try to persuade her otherwise that it was a good subject, she would have none of it, and stubbornly resisted to feel any other way.

Not that this was how she felt with her other subjects. In fact she exceeded in many, including charms, transfiguration, potions (much to professor Snape's aggravation), herbology and defence against the dark arts. In fact it was in defence against the dark arts lessons she discovered how much power she had behind her spells. Growing up she had always had a fiery temper, many things would shake, explode or fly across the room when she was angry or irritated. Bill and Charlie has teased her calling it her 'black temper' as they were all sure it came from that side of her family. However Arabelle  
was now learning to control this power she had and concentrate it into her spells. A lot of what she produced seemed to generally be more powerful than what the others in her year could do. For examplewhen being taught the incendio spell in class, rather than setting just the kindling they were aiming for alight, Arablle had set the table it rested on alight too after hearing two Slytherin girls whispering about her behind her  
back. Her reduco spell was more powerful than anyone elses and her curses and hexes often produced greater and more damaging effects to her unlucky targets.

As the years went on, Arabelle was known less for her infamous father and more for her own personality, looks and not to mention relationship with Charlie. Everybody loved Charlie. He was open and friendly towards everyone, girls would whisper and giggle every time he was around, which he was oblivious too. Arabelle always noticed this however his bright red hair was always scruffy and his blue eyes shone with enthusiasm which was contagious not to mention he had been chosen as the new seeker for the house team at the beginning of the year.  
Although Arabelle was more reluctant to open up to people, they found her likeable enough, however she had a feeling this was more to do with being best friends with Charlie that made people want to talk to her, none the less by the end of their 3rd year they were considered to be two of the most popular students in their year. Rumours about how close Charlie and Arabelle really were, always circulated round the school ever since they got there, both had ignored it, knowing that they didn't understand their friendship. Yet something was about to happen at the beginning of their 4th year which would change their friendship forever.

**a/n: I appologise if this chapter was kinda dull, I really just used this chapter to set the scene. I really want you all to love Arabelle as much as I do, so i'm going to try to make her as realistic as possible. Anyway please stay with me this story will get better I promise!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Both Arabelle and Charlie had grown a lot over the summer. Charlie had gotten broader shoulders and grown a good five inches, although he was not as tall as Bill who was at least six-foot now.  
Arabelle had grown into her looks as promised over the summer, her long dark hair was now thickly curling halfway down her back. She had also grown a lot this summer too and was now only a few inches shy of Charlie. She also looked older than 14 Charlie thought, as she sat opposite him at breakfast one morning in the great hall, she was studying her time-table for this year.

"Oh of course we would have to have care of magical creatures first thing on a Monday" she groaned jokingly, then looked up at him and smiled broadly.

"you say you hate it, but i know you secretly love it, you know it's a great lesson, plus we should be doing unicorns this year too" he grinned enthusiastically.

"Oh unicorns! That will make standing out in the snow for an hour so worth it this winter" she cried rather sarcastically and rolled her eyes. "She's going to have to do better than that to make me enjoy myself."

Charlie shook his head and shoved his last piece of toast into his mouth "I will win you over one day, if it's the last thing I do."

"right, okay Charlie sure thing, will you hurry up, I'm not giving her another reason to hate me by being late on the first day back" she got up and started walking towards the entrance hall. Charlie followed, noticing how heads were turning as Arabelle strode out the great hall. He shrugged it off, people were always gossiping about them, and it was the first day back after all.

However it didn't go away, if anything Charlie noticed it more. Arabelle, blissfully ignorant as always of course didn't pay attention enough to notice. But Charlie had, and what he noticed he wasn't sure he was very happy about. Rather than girls always whispering as they walked past, it was more the boys who were turning to look.

A week later Charlie and Arabelle were sitting in the Griffindor common room, their heads together over some particularly nasty potions work Snape had set them. Bill was sitting on the sofa by the fire-place surrounded by a bunch of his friends, who were all being very loud, laughing and joking.

"that's it!" Arabelle cried slamming the book shut on Charlie's fingers, "it's too late, I've can't concentrate, we've been at this for hours and I can barely hear myself think" Shooting a dark look at Bill making sure he heard her.

Bill turned his head smiled brightly at them as though he had no idea what Arabelle was annoyed about. He beckoned them over, but Arabelle just scowled at him, collected her books and headed off towards the girl's dormitory. "Night Charlie." she threw over her shoulder as she walked away.  
Charlie made his way over to Bill and his friends, who he found less intimidating since he was now nearly as big as most of them.

"what's up with Ari?" Bill asked looking more concerned now, worried he had actually upset her.

"Oh she's just annoyed, Snape was extra gittish to her today, said that it didn't matter how good her potions were, it would never change where she came from" Charlie said in a low whisper so only Bill could hear. Bill scowled, clearly annoyed.

"What's the deal with you and Arabelle, Charlie?" One of Bill's friends, Luke Regis a Burly 6th year shouted over to Charlie.

Charlie was taken aback by this "wha...what?"

"You know" he said grinning at his friends before turning to look at him, his dark eyes flashing "are you like, a thing?"

"Luke" Bill cried, "seriously! Stop, I told you not to talk about her like that" "I was just interested" Luke said grinning at Charlie again "so?"

"Yeah I know you're bloody interested" Bill cried again.

"Uhh...we're not, you know, it's not like that" Charlie struggled to find the words he was trying to say, "we're just friends" He could feel the colour burning up his cheeks.

"So she's fair game" he grinned even bigger, Charlie thought he looked a bit stupid, smiling goofily at his friends, pushing his blonde hair out his eyes.

"Fair game?" something about this had annoyed Charlie, he now understood what was going on and why Bill was annoyed. He stood up to his full hight.

"Isn't she a bit young for you Regis?" he said trying not to grit his teeth.

"Ah well, she doesn't look that young anymore does she? All the lads are saying so." The boys around them looked at each other and started laughing. Charlie clenched his fists.

"Luke I swear if you so much as go near her, let alone talk to her I will put you in detention" Bill said "don't make me abuse my power as a prefect" he threatened.

"Sorry Bill but we both know you can't do that, and since there's nothing going on between your bro and her I can do what I like" Luke stared back at the two brothers. Charlie was getting more annoyed by his cockiness, as if Arabelle was some trophy he wanted to own and show off to everyone. Bill looked as if he was going to punch Regis any moment.

"you know what?" Charlie smiled at Luke, "yeah you should go for it"

They all looked at Charlie in surprise. Bill stood up and turned to Charlie so only he could hear him. "what are you doing? I don't want an idiot like Luke anywhere near Arabelle, he is awful to girls, besides, you're right she's way too young for him" Bill hissed.

"Bill, calm it. You're forgetting one thing. It's Arabelle we're talking about. She would never go within five feet of a plank like Regis. Let him try, I can't wait to see her hex him across the room"

Bill slowly smiled, his eyes looking relieved. "Yeah you're right, she can finally teach Luke a lesson about what happens to arrogant twats." he laughed.  
"So Luke" Bill Turned back to his friends " when are you thinking of asking her out?"

Charlie walked off to his dormitory laughing. Arabelle would never be impressed by someone so thick. But still there was this feeling in the pit of his stomach he hadn't ever felt before. Something in-between disappointment and anger. It wasn't like she needed him to look after her, but still it was his responsibility to make sure she was okay, right? He was now doubting his actions,  
he hoped Arabelle saw right through Regis, and saw that she was way too good for him. But now he was doubting himself, what if she liked him? Something told Charlie Luke had anything but good intentions for Arabelle. Charlie slowly dragged himself up to his dorm, not that he was expecting to get much sleep tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

Charlie spent the next few days distracting Arabelle, asking her to watch his quidditch practice, walk around the grounds of the castle, and do her work in the library with him, hoping that he could keep her out of the common room and as far away from Luke Regis as possible, he even had her eating at the other end of the great hall to him at meal times.  
Soon, however Arabelle became suspicious of Charlie's weird behaviour. He had asked her for the second time this afternoon since lessons had ended to go for a walk around the grounds.

"Charlie please, I'm tired, can't we just go to the common room" she pleaded as they walked out of the great hall, having just finished dinner.

"But I wan't to go for a walk" he moaned.

"again? the Hogsmead visit is tomorrow we can walk then!" she cried, "I'm going upstairs are you coming or not?"

Charlie reluctantly followed her up the giant staircase towards the common room. He scanned the room quickly upon entering and was relieved to see, as busy as it was there was no sign of Bill and his friends.

"I'm going to write a letter to home" he declared " the twins swore that I didn't write at least once a week they'd collect all the spiders they could find and release them in my room" he grinned at Arabelle. He got out some parchment while Arabelle curled up in the armchair by the fire. Charlie sitting on the floor beside her began to write about what had happened this week, with Arabelle reminding him of any parts he had left out.

"Tell them we'll send them both something from Zonko's when we go tomorrow" she finished.

"and Honeydukes, Fred asked for some of those exploding bon bons we got them last time" Charlie added.

Arabelle frowned at this "Oh I'm sure Molly won't go too ballistic, they dropped them down the toilet last time 'just to see what would happen'!"

Charlie turned to face her "I'll just say they're from Bill" his eyes flashing mischievously.

As if on que Bill strode in through the portrait hole followed as usual by his gang of friends. Charlie's stomach dropped. he folded up the letter and shoved it into the envelope.

"shall we go post this?" he asked Arabelle.

"What now? It's pitch black out, it can wait til morning" she replied distractedly, she was smiling at Bill who was waving at them from across the room.

Bill strode over to them and collapsed into the sofa next to Arabelle. "Hey guys, haven't seen you two for a while, where have you been?"

"In the castle obviously" Charlie snapped "where else are we going to be?".

Both Bill and Arabelle looked at him open-mouthed in shock, it was rare for Charlie to snap like that, especially at Bill who out of everyone he was especially good-natured with.

"Uhh...well yeah of course but you know what I meant Char" Bill said taken aback.

"Well if you ask a stupid question you're going to get a stupid answer" Charlie mumbled into his bag as he put the letter in it. He glanced over at Bill's friends who were hanging back on the other side of the room, but were all looking in their direction. Luke was among them, Charlie turned back to face his brother, giving him a look of warning only Bill could see.

"Right, well" Bill faltered "I'll uhh, see you around I guess" and he got up and headed back over to his friends.

Arabelle looked bemused, turning towards Charlie and frowned. But before she could say anything he got quickly to his feet "I'm going to bed, night" he strode off leaving Arabelle looking more confused than before, sitting alone by the fire-place. He stopped to look at her from the top of the staircase, and immediately wished he hadn't. no longer than two seconds after Charlie had left, the chair next to Arabelle had been filled by Luke Regis. Charlie could have kicked himself, why had he acted like an idiot running off like that? He had given Luke the opportunity he had been waiting for. He watched him lean in to talk to her, Charlie leaned forward too, trying to hear them from up on the balcony, but the room was too loud and they were sitting too far away for him to hear anything. In the corner of his eye he saw Bill's friends looking at them and practically giggling like a bunch of first year girls. Bill looked uneasy however, biting his bottom lip and frowning over at them. Charlie couldn't watch anymore, he groaned loudly, pushed the door to the boy's dormitories hard open and began to climb the stairs. All he could do now was put his faith in Arabelle.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Charlie woke up early, he had not slept well again. He put on his maroon dressing gown, grabbed his wash bag and headed downstairs figuring he could get a quick shower while it was quiet. He tiptoed down the spiral stairs and bounded out the door almost crashing into someone.

"Careful Charlie! you almost knocked me out" a voice giggled at him.

He recognised the voice without needing to look "Oh sorry Arabelle, didn't think anyone would be up this early" he mumbled, remembering the scene he had looked over in the common room last night.

She beamed up at him "Yeah I didn't sleep that well" flicking her long brown hair over her shoulder. She was wearing a baggy navy jumper and grey shorts.  
"Are you going to the bathrooms? I'll come with you"

Charlie nodded thinking more about how he could subtly ask her what had happened last night more than what was going on. Before long they reached the bathrooms on the next floor up and went their separate ways into the boys and girls.

"meet you down in the hall for breakfast in 20 minutes?" Charlie asked.

"Sure" Arabelle said beaming up at him again. He turned away, his stomach sinking. Why did she seem so happy this morning? Or was he just being paranoid? Maybe nothing had happened?  
He should just ask her. They were friends, he knew they could ask each other anything. But something deep inside Charlie was telling him that maybe he didn't want to know the answer. He took off his dressing gown stepping into one of the cubicles and turned the tap, dousing himself with cold water.

Twenty minuets later Charlie was in the hall, dressed in plaid shirt, and jeans, his jacket on the bench next to him. He was staring into his empty bowl waiting for Arabelle, trying to figure out exactly how to ask her what happened last night? He didn't notice Bill walk into the hall until he sat down opposite him.

"Charlie? You alright mate?"

"huh? Oh yeah why?" Charlie replied.

"Well you seemed kinda off yesterday. Have you heard about Luke and Arabelle yet?" He asked his expression turning more serious.

"Uhh...no not yet, why? What happened?" He asked trying to act casual.

"Well, he asked her if she would go to Hogsmeade with him today, but she turned him down point blank, said she already had plans, with you I'm guessing" Bill smiled slightly at him.  
"So anyway he they were talking for ages, I guess he was trying to win her over or something, we all went up about 11, they were still sitting there talking, I heard him come into our dorm late" Bill said grimicing. "I was annoyed he was up that late alone with her, I asked him what had happened, he swore they were just talking, but I could have knocked that obnoxious smile right off his face" I'm sure he was trying to wind me up but still, he can be such a git.

Charlie tried to process what he was hearing "They were up all night?" Arabelle was rarely that sociable with people, especially strangers. The only person he knew she could talk with for hours was him. Something struck him deep in his stomach. A kind of despair. What was this feeling he felt rising inside of him. He thought back to those nights he had spent with Arabelle, they would sneak into each others rooms after the family was asleep and talk in low whispers all night, stifling their laughter trying not to wake anyone else up. They would talk until morning, until they fell asleep. Molly had found them more than once, asleep on top the covers, heads lying together, their hands held loosely. Not that they knew any of this, Molly never told them that she would quietly shut the door, head downstairs, pretending she was none the wiser. Those nights seemed so innocent back then. A secret shared between them. But now Arabelle had stayed up with someone else 'til the early hours of the morning, maybe those nights she had spent with Charlie hadn't meant as much to her as they had to him. He felt a pang of pain shoot through him. Something inside him was waking up, something that had been asleep all these years. A realization that he had feelings, stronger than he once thought for Arabelle, but she obviously didn't feel the same way.

His heart sunk further as she came bounding into the great hall towards them, her hair, usually tied up, was lose and curling down her back, her face flushed. She was wearing dark blue jeans rolled up at the ankles, brown ankle boots and a cream slouchy jumper, with her Griffindor scarf in her hand. He noticed she was wearing the necklace he had got her last Christmas. It was a pocket watch on a long chain, decorated with a bronze dragon on top.

"Hiya" she said as she reached them, throwing her scarf at Charlie and falling on to the bench next to him. She reached for a bowl, grazing Charlie's hand as she did. He jumped knocking over his glass of pumpkin juice as he pulled his hand away. They both jumped up as pumpkin juice ran down the bench towards them.

"Charlie!" Arabelle cried as Bill whipped out his wand and cleared the bench with a wave of his wand. "Why are you being so clumsy this morning!"

Charlie blushed furiously, mumbled an apology and sat back down tucking into his cereal, trying to avoid eye contact with her. She sat down looking at him intently. "Charlie..."

Bill cut her off promptly standing up "Right kids, I'm off, I will see you two later on I'm sure" He practically ran towards the door, trying to escape the awkward atmosphere that had just surrounded them.

Arabelle eventually dropped her gaze, as her bowl filled with cereal too. She began eating, though still shooting glances out the corner of her eye. But Charlie refused to meet her gaze.

**A/N: Thanks for reading the story this far! I would love for you to review and let me know what you think of the general direction this is heading. **

**Do you like it? Are the characters realistic enough? Let me know what you think. Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

The air was crisp and clear as Charlie and Arabelle strode down the main street of Hogsmeade. The balmy Autumn sun shone down on the paths giving off a pleasant warmth. In a perfect best friend fashion they had continued their day as if the strange encounter from earlier had not happened. They chatted and laughed and shopped. Not forgetting to stop off at Zonko's joke shop to get some gifts to send home for Fred and George. They also got a book for Percy and sweets for Ron and Ginny, as Arabelle stated that buying just the twins presents really wasnt fair and would cause a number of arguments between them back at the burrow.

Charlie's arms were beginning to ache from carrying all the paper bags from different shops, he suggested they go and get drinks in the three broomsticks so they could rest.  
He put the bags down at a small table by the window near the back of the room, pulled out a chair for Arabelle and went off to buy their drinks. Arabelle had started to pull out her purse from her bag, but Charlie had insisted after arguing about how she had brought most of the presents and a new ink bottle for Charlie. Arabelle, having been left money from her mother after she died, and money from her father vault once he was in prison, had inherited quite a sum. Both of her parents had been pure bloods and had both come from equally wealthy backgrounds. However Arabelle was very generous with her money. It pained her to see how the Weasley's struggled for money so she made sure that every month, some was transferred into their vault from hers, to pay for her keep. She had decided this on her 10th birthday and had told Molly and Arther her plans. At first they refused, said it was their duty to look after her and she should not have to give them money. But Arabelle persisted and they eventually gave in, however they would not accept any more than 2 galleons a month. Arabelle made up for what she considered an underpayment, buy frequently buying things for the children back at the burrow and of course whatever Charlie and Bill needed whether they asked for it or not. She considered them her real family and she believed it was the least she could do for them all.

Charlie returned and they settled down, and had just started talking about Charlie's upcoming quidditch game against Hufflepuff when Bill and his friends (including Luke) walked through the door. Charlie rolled his eyes, making Arabelle turn to see what he was looking at. When she saw them she flicked her head back quickly her cheeks filling with colour.

"Can we not go one day with out seeing them" Charlie said through a gritted smile as he waved at Bill who had just shouted his name over the room.

Arabelle smiled weakly and began to shift nervously in her seat.

Charlie looked at her quizzically "What's got your wand in a knot?" he asked her.

She looked reproachfully at him "Well it's just I kind of..."

Her sentence was cut off by Bill's booming voice "Hey guys mind if we join?" Charlie didn't know why he bothered asking as his friends were already pulling a large table towards theirs as he spoke.

"Sure" Charlie said through gritted teeth. Arabelle was fidgeting so much by this point he thought she was about to fall out of her seat. She froze suddenly as Luke Regis pulled up a chair next to hers, slumped down in it and threw his arm over the back of her chair. The same feeling Charlie had felt the other night when talking to Luke ignight deep inside of him.

Luke leered at Charlie "fancy seeing you guys here" he said innocently, but Charlie knew full well he had come in here knowing he was going to find them. Arabelle continued to look uncomfortable.

There was an awkward silence as no one replied to Luke. Charlie caught Arabelle's gaze and their eye's locked, he raised his eyebrows slightly as to suggest they leave as soon as possible, she replied with just an awkward look back at him. Bill saw this secret exchange and broke the silence. "Luke go and get us some drinks" he said pushing a sickle towards him. The others followed suite and did the same. Luke reluctantly got up and made his way around the crowded room towards the bar.

"Uhh do you mind?" Charlie hissed at Bill, "we were kind of in the middle of a conversation here"

"Look im sorry okay" Bill hissed back, Arabelle leaned closer so she could hear "I only brought everyone over here because Luke has been going on about how 'the next time he sees Ari he's for sure going to ask her out'" he whispered quickly "I knew he saw you two come in here so I figured if we all came in with him he's not going to do it in front of everyone" Bill finished.

"Oh yeah" cried Charlie "Yeah I'm sure Luke wouldn't do something as pompous as that," Charlie replied sarcastically "I don't want him near her Bill."

Arabelle threw herself back to her seat. "So what if he does" She said defiantly. Both Charlie and Bill turned to her, mouths open in shock.

"You what?" Bill choked out.

"So what if he asks me out it's not really any of your business is it?" She hissed shooting dark looks at some of Bill's friends who had turned to look after Bill's outburst. They all quickly turned back to their previous conversation.

"Ari come on" Charlie said "You can't be telling us you actually like that slime ball" not bothering to hide the disbelief in his voice.

"I'm telling you that even if I did it is not, and will never be up to you two to control my life" her voice starting to shake, the sudden outburst of hers making the two brothers give each other a puzzled look before turning back to her. "I can look after myself thank you and more than that I can decide who I want to date without either of you two butting in saying who can't come near me!"

Their conversation came to an abrupt halt however as Luke returned with the drinks. He sat down and looked around at the three of them. Arabelle darkly staring at the brothers,  
who both had their mouths slightly open, shock covering their faces. "Uhh...what are we all talking about" he said still looking around at them waiting for one of them to move.  
Arabelle snapped her head quickly towards him. Her dark look she had been giving the boys quickly replaced by a smile, but her eyes still flashing darkly.

"I was just saying how It's so hot in here. I think I need to go for a walk to get some fresh air. Do you want to come with me?" She asked Luke, then turning towards the brothers again quickly smiling smugly at them. Their faces changed from shock to anger in the blink of an eye.

"Sure I'll come with you" Luke said eagerly, not having noticed any of the looks being shot over the table. He eagerly jumped up from his seat and pulled on his cloak.

"good" she smiled sweetly up at him. She pushed out from the table grabbed her bag, swung it over her shoulder. As Luke turned to leave Arabelle turned to face Charlie and Bill "I'll speak to you two later." She spat. They shifted in their seats, to them that sounded more like a threat than a friendly goodbye. With than Arabelle turned and walked out the door with Luke, leaving Charlie and Bill staring in disbelief after them.


End file.
